DETROIT -- Chris Osgood's 14th year in the NHL is fast becoming one of his most enjoyable seasons.

"I'm in that mode where you can't wait to play in a game,'' Osgood said. "I just want to get the warm-up over with and the game started, it's so much fun. I've enjoyed playing so much the last three years. As you get older, you enjoy it more.''

Winning helps, and Osgood has been almost unbeatable since the middle of last season. He needed to make only 12 saves Wednesday to record his 44th career shutout, as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-0 at Joe Louis Arena.

It was Osgood's 33rd shutout as a Red Wing and his first since March 1, 2006, at Anaheim.

Osgood is 10-1 this season and 17-1-5 in his last 23 starts dating back to last season. He won't start Thursday's game in Nashville, as Dominik Hasek tries to break a two-game losing streak, but Osgood's performance is certain to earn him more action than anticipated at the start of the season.

"Ozzie's been playing real good for us and is obviously confident,'' Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "He's worked on his game a lot and feels good. With his experience and the way he feels about his game it just gives us a real good one-two combination. Dom's had a few days to work on his game and I know how proud he is, so we'll get a good night out of him (Thursday).''

Babcock said he got a good night out of everybody who dressed on Wednesday. Henrik Zetterberg and Mikael Samuelsson scored power-play goals and Dan Cleary scored on a breakaway and also had an assist as the Red Wings snapped the Blues' four-game winning streak.

Detroit forward Tomas Kopecky left the game in the second period with a shoulder injury, but Babcock said it's not serious. But he said Kopecky will not play Thursday.

The Wings may have put the game away by taking a 3-0 lead on Cleary's seventh goal of the season, his sixth in the past eight games, at 14:13 of the third period. The Red Wings squandered a 2-0 first-period lead when these teams met Nov. 13 in St. Louis. This time, they kept their foot on the accelerator.

"We need to have that killer instinct, where we get up one or two goals and really try to put the foot down and bury teams, especially when we get a chance on the power play like we did tonight,'' Cleary said.

The Blues hadn't allowed a power-play goal during their four-game winning streak, killing all 19 shorthanded situations. But that streak ended shortly after the opening face-off, as Zetterberg scored at the 22-second mark, six seconds after a Eric Brewer was penalized for flipping the puck into the crowd. Samuelsson made it 2-0 at 5:16, firing in a wrist shot that deflected off Brewer and past Legace.

"It wasn't a good start at all. It (penalty) was just 16 seconds into the game and went downhill from there,'' Blues goalie Manny Legace said. "If you don't bring your 'A' game against these guys they'll make you look bad, especially in this building.''

The Wings dominated the game territorially, outshooting the Blues 38-12. Osgood had no difficulty staying focused despite the lack of activity.

"I played on this team long enough where I've had nights where I don't get very many shots,'' Osgood said. "I don't care how many shots I face as long as we win the game. I just stay focused on the puck, I track it everywhere on the ice, follow it in the neutral zone, obviously in our end, even when it's in the other end. I don't find myself getting bored. You have to stay focused because the game can change on one shot.''

Despite their fast start (15-5-1), the Red Wings needed this win to even their record against a much-improved Central Division to 4-4-1.

"We're the worst team (in the league) after 20 games in our division, so obviously we got to do a better job of that,'' Babcock said. "The more good teams you play, the better off you're going to be. You're going to be more playoff ready.''